This recipe produces an elegant, gourmet plate featuring steelhead trout, lobster, hearts of palm, sunchokes, caramelized fennel and Speck.Courtesy of Chef Brad Masciotra for the Hawksworth Young Chef Scholarship.
ingredients
Carrot "Bisque"
Lobster-Stuffed Hearts of Palm
Caramelized Fennel
Sunchoke - Palm Purée
Speck Chips
Sous-Vide Steelhead Trout
Meyer Lemon Salad
directions
In a large pot begin by sweating fennel, garlic, speck and shallots in olive oil until translucent, add the white wine and reduce by ½. At this point add the carrot juice and chicken stock, add the lobster shells, herbs and bring to a boil, reduce down to a simmer and cook for 30-45 minutes.
Strain and reduce by 2/3rds and add the cream, the bisque should have the consistency of a thinner creamed soup, season with salt.
At the last minute before plating, bring to a boil and remove from heat, with immersion blender froth the carrot bisque and spoon foam over fish and on plate.
In a food processor, blend the lobster tail meat and slowly add the egg and cream making sure everything is cold and slowly being emulsified. Add the fennel fronds to the processor as well as the lemon juice, season with salt and place mousse in a piping bag with an open ended tip.
Take the Hearts of palm and cut into 1” segments, remove the core and cover with cold, salted water, bring to a boil and cook just until tender, remove and chill.
Once chilled, wrap the bottoms of the palm with Saran wrap and pipe the lobster mousse where the core used to be, using an offset spatula to clean the top edges of any leftover mousse.
In a shallow pan, line the bottom with tin foil and place the stuffed palm segments on top, pour the chicken stock into the pan and bring to just under a simmer, cover with tin foil and bake at 325ºF for approx. 15 – 20 minutes or until the mousse is set.
Remove from pan (making sure to also remove the plastic wrap) brush with olive oil and serve immediately.
Begin by topping the fennel bulb (saving the frawns for garnish) and slicing the bulb into 8 equal wedges.
In a medium-hot sauté pan begin searing/frying the fennel in olive oil until the fennel turns a deep golden brown. Flip fennel and add the chicken stock, season with salt and pepper and roast at 350ºF for approximately 30 minutes, until the fennel is very tender and the stock has reduced to a glaze.
Just before serving, add the lemon juice and serve immediately.
In a small sauce pan, sweat sunchokes, palm cores, shallots and garlic until translucent, add chicken stock and bring to a boil, reduce down to a simmer and cook until very tender.
Remove from remaining liquid and reduce until thick and syrupy, add the cream and butter, season with salt. Begin to blend the pulp slowly adding the concentrated liquid until the pulp turns into a smooth puree. Place back in a pan and finish with butter if necessary. Serve hot.
On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, place speck ham, brush with olive oil and bake at 350ºF until crispy. Remove and allow to cool; use as garnish.
Begin by butchering the trout and removing a filet. Skin the filet and trim trout into approximately 2 ½” x ¾” bars. Season with salt and vacuum seal the trout in a food grade plastic bag.
Set an immersion circulator to 45ºC and poach the trout for approximately 20 minutes (if you cut the trout bigger, just adjust the cooking time slightly). Once cooked, remove from vacuum bag and brush with olive oil. Top coarse sea salt and Meyer lemon salad; serve immediately.
Begin by segmenting the lemon; finely dice the removed segments and toss with enough olive oil to lightly coat. Finish with salt and chives and garnish on top of the trout.